Taking a look at what’s around the corner for big data in 2012

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WHEN it comes to planning your responses to increasing data needs, it is not enough to simply try and respond to regulatory requirements as and when they pop up – to do so leaves you with a disjointed and inefficient system. Instead, businesses must plan ahead and anticipate what might be coming around the corner, as well as future proofing their systems so that they are always in a position to implement new technology that can help them to get an advantage over competitors.

The good thing about regulation is that it is fairly easy to plan for. One of the great ironies of the Mifid review is that it has been largely driven by EU officials with a fear of the fast march of technology but yet has taken years to implement. As such, it is not an insurmountable task to respond to its requirements.

The more difficult task is to respond to market events – to be able to handle the surges that create the huge data volumes 0.5 per cent of the time, but not be left with a lot of idle capacity for the other 99.5 per cent. But as Simon Garland, chief strategist at Kx Solutions points out, if you have the capacity to trade during a flash crash, you will have the budget to buy all the hardware you need.

Here are Simon’s predictions for big data in 2012:

1. Expect the unexpected.
2. An accelerating trend for having small, expert in-house trading/trade support teams rather than outsourcing.
3. Risk management will make it increasingly important to have a (near real-time) view across all asset classes and all geographical locations rather than looking at silos.
4. As greater data volumes and volatility push hardware and software systems to their limits, the need to monitor and manage systems dynamically becomes more important.
5. More data and more volatility.